mikeb
Sore Fingers
Posts: 4
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Post by mikeb on Jun 10, 2017 12:09:12 GMT
After the first weeks ownership of the guitar advertised by Francis in the classified ads I thought I would let you all know how things were going, last Sunday morning as I approached South Molton my thoughts were " you're going to look at a guitar with wonky frets & a scale length on the bass side that will give the strings the tension of fencing wire, you're arthritic fingers will never cope, you must be raving mad." Well how wrong could I be, before the first chord I strummed had died away I was in love, for 15 minute or so I happily played away & to be fair hardly noticed the frets at all, what I did notice was the tone that was produced & the quality of workmanship, luckily it was raining when I got back home & I had a further hour to continue bonding, since then I have played it almost every waking hour I have had spare, before I go to work & again as soon as I get home, this is truly one of the most comfortable guitars I have ever played. Multi scale / fan fretting is an absolute revelation & I am totally sold on the concept, if you play bar chords sitting down, as I do, the first thing you will notice is how your left hand naturaly rotates as you move up & down the neck , I haven't tried any slide playing as yet, but I have found that harmonics seem easier to produce again as you finger seems to naturaly follow the fan of frets. From a makers point of view building a multi scale instrument must be a nightmare, but from a players point of view this is how all guitars should be made & I haven't even touched on how the scale lengths improve the tone or the advantages for alternative tunings, mike b.
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brianr2
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My main instrument is: Fylde Goodfellow
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Post by brianr2 on Jun 10, 2017 17:18:16 GMT
I couldn't agree more. I got my first multiscale/fan fret earlier this year, also built by a Forum member: davewhite. I have small hands and weak joints and the fan fret is a joy to play. Like you, I adapted far faster than I expected; it is just so natural. The moral: try a fan fret, and then order one from a Forum luthier. Brian |
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Post by andyhowell on Jun 11, 2017 8:21:51 GMT
I am a convert as well. Love them. Anyone thinking of commissioning one beware though. The length of scales and relative angle of the saddle is a subject of much discussion. You really need to know what musical style you want to play before jumping in.
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Post by vikingblues on Jun 11, 2017 9:51:40 GMT
As a fellow sufferer in the arthritic joints I found this a very interesting post Mike, as is your reply Brian. The point about how "your left hand naturally rotates as you move up & down the neck" jumped out at me. The fact too that a guitar made by Francis or Dave will be built so well and will be set up so well by real craftsmen will also help of course. Funny how what seem quite small differences in relative angles can make for comfort or discomfort. I have one larger bodied and full scale guitar that's as comfortable as my smaller body short scale guitars for my left hand and I'm sure some of this is down to the body shape making the natural angle of the neck point more upwards - a much more natural angle for the wrist and finger muscles and joints when up towards the nut end of the fretboard. What you say about the changing angle of the fan fret makes huge sense - I just put my left arm and hand out in a typical playing position with no guitar and moved my arm as if going up and down the fretboard. The angle of my fingers looked as if they closely matched the sort of angles fan frets would give. Oh dear - I hope this doesn't cause GAS!  The description of how you took to the guitar and how it inspired you to play says everything. Regardless of sizes, shapes, specifications, woods etc that is the acid test and it's obviously the right guitar for you. It's great to hear a sound and tone that you love when you first play a guitar but if it's not combined with that urge to play and keep playing it's not "the one" for you. It's great when worries based on your preconceived ideas about an instrument are banished so effectively. I hope you have many years of happy music making together.  Mark |
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francis
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Post by francis on Jun 11, 2017 10:34:41 GMT
I'd like to make an observation here. About the guitar itself. I've built a couple of multi-scale guitars now Mike's guitar is based on a Triple O body size and another based on a small jumbo. The small jumbo has naturally more bass than the triple O having a larger and deeper body size therefore lengthening the bass scale has seemingly less effect. The triple O body gives more emphasis to an extended bass scale. Trebles are retained by the smaller body size and the extending the bass scale gives more depth.
The small jumbo is a great all round guitar but the triple O is definitely a picker's guitar.
Fortunately I don't have any hand problems but I too find the multi-scale fret much more physically comfortable.
Francis
(Oh dear feel a multi-scale parlour coming on....)
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Jun 11, 2017 13:50:13 GMT
Good to hear you are a happy bunny mikeb! I am a convert as well. Love them. Anyone thinking of commissioning one beware though. The length of scales and relative angle of the saddle is a subject of much discussion. You really need to know what musical style you want to play before jumping in. The scale difference is crucial, as Andy says; but once that is settled (and small is often good!) equally crucial is which fret you chose to be "not wonky". (orthagonal?) Keith |
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Post by andyhowell on Jun 11, 2017 22:06:36 GMT
I too find it more comfortable and feel that there is just more room for your fingers. I'd not heard anyone else talk about this until some guy in Acoustic guitar last year.
The scale lengths and angle are determined to some extent by the body size and to some extent by your playing style.
Mine is used exclusively tuned down to DADGAD. C and G tunings. As the 1st string never gets higher than D it has a standard OM length. The base scale is just enough to tighten the bottom C.
This works for me. Others have used a 000 scale on treble.
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Jo whoever he is.
